Welcome to frkl’s documentation!¶

Overview¶

elastic configuration files

frkl is basically a string/object transformation library, with the main goal being enabling as minimal as possible initial state. I rather suspect that this here is one of those things whose value won’t be immediately obvious (if there is one at all – still not sure about that myself), and examples might be a better way of explaining what its use is.

frkl is most useful for cases where you have a list of similar configuration items, which might or might not inherit from each other. In those cases, you don’t want to duplicate information that is needed for each of the items. To illustrate, here’s some yaml:

vars:
  location: at_home
  task_type: cleaning
tasks:
  - clean_bathroom
  - clean_living_room
  - clean_desk:
      location: at_work

This task list describes how we want to clean three things, two of which are at home, and one is at work. Our robot would not like this way of describing it though, since it is much harder to parse. For example, there is no ‘proper’ schema, the list for example has mixed types, strings and a dictionary with one key/value pair. What our robot would want is:

- task:
    name: clean_bathroom
  vars:
    location: at_home
    task_type: cleaning
- task:
    name: clean_living_room
  vars:
    location: at_home
    task_type: cleaning
- task:
    name: clean_desk
  vars:
    location: at_work
    task_type: cleaning

Basically, this is what frkl does: expanding (and also modifying if wanted) configuration from as minimal as possible to as comprehensive as necessary.

Now, of course, in this example the reduction in size is not that big. And, one might argue, not having a fixed schema might not be a good idea in the first place. I can even see the point, but I do like being able to express myself as simple and minimal as possible. Obviously we are introducing more fragility by loosening up our schema. But we gain clarity, and ease of use. Whether this trade-off is justifiable or not depends on the situation I think. This library is for the situations where it is :-)

Also, just so you know, frkl has a few more tricks up its sleeve. For those, check out the yet to be written configuration at this yet to be created link

frkl is written in Python, and GPL v3 licensed (for now).

Documentation: https://frkl.readthedocs.io.

Features¶

transform configurations, focusing on clarity and the removal of redundancy
plug-able architecture
pre-made string/object processors/filters (regex, url abbreviation, jinja templates, etc.)
auto-downloading, merging of configuration items
mix and match of local and remote configuration items

Installation¶

Stable release¶

To install frkl, run this command in your terminal:

$ pip install frkl

This is the preferred method to install frkl, as it will always install the most recent stable release.

If you don’t have pip installed, this Python installation guide can guide you through the process.

From sources¶

The sources for frkl can be downloaded from the Github repo.

You can either clone the public repository:

$ git clone git://github.com/makkus/frkl

Or download the tarball:

$ curl  -OL https://github.com/makkus/frkl/tarball/master

Once you have a copy of the source, you can install it with:

$ python setup.py install

Usage¶

To use frkl in a project:

import frkl

Contributing¶

Contributions are welcome, and they are greatly appreciated! Every little bit helps, and credit will always be given.

You can contribute in many ways:

Types of Contributions¶

Report Bugs¶

Report bugs at https://github.com/makkus/frkl/issues.

If you are reporting a bug, please include:

Your operating system name and version.
Any details about your local setup that might be helpful in troubleshooting.
Detailed steps to reproduce the bug.

Fix Bugs¶

Look through the GitHub issues for bugs. Anything tagged with “bug” and “help wanted” is open to whoever wants to implement it.

Implement Features¶

Look through the GitHub issues for features. Anything tagged with “enhancement” and “help wanted” is open to whoever wants to implement it.

Write Documentation¶

frkl could always use more documentation, whether as part of the official frkl docs, in docstrings, or even on the web in blog posts, articles, and such.

Submit Feedback¶

The best way to send feedback is to file an issue at https://github.com/makkus/frkl/issues.

If you are proposing a feature:

Explain in detail how it would work.
Keep the scope as narrow as possible, to make it easier to implement.
Remember that this is a volunteer-driven project, and that contributions are welcome :)

Get Started!¶

Ready to contribute? Here’s how to set up frkl for local development.

Fork the frkl repo on GitHub.

Clone your fork locally:

$ git clone git@github.com:your_name_here/frkl.git

Install your local copy into a virtualenv. Assuming you have virtualenvwrapper installed, this is how you set up your fork for local development:
```
$ mkvirtualenv frkl
$ cd frkl/
$ python setup.py develop
```
Create a branch for local development:
```
$ git checkout -b name-of-your-bugfix-or-feature
```
Now you can make your changes locally.
When you’re done making changes, check that your changes pass flake8 and the tests, including testing other Python versions with tox:
```
$ flake8 frkl tests
$ python setup.py test or py.test
$ tox
```
To get flake8 and tox, just pip install them into your virtualenv.

Commit your changes and push your branch to GitHub:

$ git add .
$ git commit -m "Your detailed description of your changes."
$ git push origin name-of-your-bugfix-or-feature

Submit a pull request through the GitHub website.

Pull Request Guidelines¶

Before you submit a pull request, check that it meets these guidelines:

The pull request should include tests.
If the pull request adds functionality, the docs should be updated. Put your new functionality into a function with a docstring, and add the feature to the list in README.rst.
The pull request should work for Python 2.6, 2.7, 3.3, 3.4 and 3.5, and for PyPy. Check https://travis-ci.org/makkus/frkl/pull_requests and make sure that the tests pass for all supported Python versions.

Tips¶

To run a subset of tests:

$ python -m unittest tests.test_frkl

Credits¶

Development Lead¶

Markus Binsteiner <makkus@posteo.de>

Contributors¶

None yet. Why not be the first?

History¶

0.3.0 (2018-05-24)¶

Major refactoring

0.1.0 (2017-05-05)¶

First release on PyPI.